


Sick of Ice

by sedna_mode



Category: Brave (2012), How to Train Your Dragon (2010), Rise of the Guardians (2012), Tangled (2010)
Genre: Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-13
Updated: 2014-01-13
Packaged: 2018-01-08 13:56:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1133438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sedna_mode/pseuds/sedna_mode
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hiccup is sick and tired of his prosthetic sliding out from under him on every patch of ice he encounters, so Rapunzel, Jack and Merida will work together to try and solve his problem</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sick of Ice

**Author's Note:**

> Created for Tumblr's RotBTD Week prompt for day 1: Ice

"Wa- Aargh! Oof! Aw for the love of Thor- That's the third time this week!"

"Oh dear, are you alright Hiccup?"

Rapunzel bent down to help the young Viking up, trying to find purchase herself on the slippery ice under foot. Her voice was muffled by the woolen knitted purple scarf she wore around her neck (one of her own designs) and she had a warm fur-lined cape over her dress. She had decided to abandon her aversion to shoes in light of the thick blanket of snow covering Berk, opting for elegant Yak-leather boots stamped with the Sun-symbol of her kingdom (last year's Snoggletog present from her three best friends). She grabbed hold of one of the boy's leather-clad arms while Toothless got under his other arm and they proceeded to try and haul him upright once more.

"Alright Hic, here we- Oops!"

Before she could register what had happened, Rapunzel found she had joined the boy on the ground, sprawled out on her stomach next to him.

Jack and Merida had watched the scene unfold from the safety of a nearby snowbank bordering the offending ice sheet, trying hard to suppress unhelpful snickers. When Rapunzel went flying, they both gave up on holding back and erupted into great gales of laughter at how ridiculous and helpless the two looked flailing about on the ice.

"Ha ha very mature," huffed Rapunzel, a smile nonetheless tugging at the corner of her mouth as she tried in vain to regain an upright position while her feet kept sliding out from under her, "whenever you're done with the hilarity, maybe you could help us up? Jack? Can't you do something?"

"Sorry Zellie, I can only create ice, not get rid of it." With some effort, Jack got himself under control, maybe realizing the situation wasn't really all that funny for the two stuck on the ice. He jumped into the air and hovered just above Rapunzel, white hair and light blue hoodie fluttering in the breeze that kept him aloft. "Tell you what I will do though. Here, grab onto my staff. Toothless, you get your rider out of there."

While Jack gently lifted the girl off the ice and carefully deposited her next to Merida, the dragon jumped into the air, staying airborn just long enough to haul the scowling Viking away in his front paws. Merida quickly dusted the snow off Rapunzel’s clothes with a handkerchief pulled from the sleeve of her thick dark blue cotton dress, still sniggering quietly as Jack landed lightly next to the two girls with a silly grin on his face.

“Well that was fun!” exclaimed the winter spirit, idly creating snowflakes on his fingertips and blowing them off into the air.

“You shouldn’t have done that Punz,” reproached Merida in her Scottish accent, a glint in her bright blue eyes as she gently teased the brunette before her, “you know you’re not the steadiest on your feet to begin with, there’s no way you could handle ice like that!”

“Except when she’s got skates on eh?” added Jack, “then she’s a natural on ice, dancing away like she’s done it her whole life. Even I can’t get that graceful, makes me jealous sometimes.”

“Consider yourselves lucky you can even stand on the stupid stuff.” Hiccup and Toothless had just landed a little to the side of the small group, the dragon casting about in cheerful curiosity standing in sharp contrast to the boy scowling darkly next to him.

The other three teenagers exchanged glances, somewhat confused. This was quite unlike the normally even-tempered young dragon rider. “You ok Hiccup?” asked Jack, all sign of mischief and teasing wiped from his face.

“Oh fine, never been better.” Hiccup’s voice dripped with venomous sarcasm as he snapped at his friends, still glaring furiously at the ground.

Taken aback, Rapunzel hesitantly took a step toward the boy, leaving a perplexed-looking Jack and Merida behind and bending down to try and look at Hiccup’s face as she tried to get an answer from him. “You don’t sound fine Hic, what’s the matter? Why are you upset?”

“Why am I upset? Do you know what it’s like living with a leg that’ll slide right out from under you if you lean on it slightly wrong? Do you know what it’s like not being able to walk out your door without wondering how many times you’re going to end up on your butt today? I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve modified this gods-forsaken prosthetic, adding crampons and snowshoes, tying the soles of boots and strips of fur and bits of bark to the bottom of it. Nothing helps! Not for long anyway! I’m tired of falling down! Tired of always having to call for Toothless to come pick me up off my ass! Tired of-  I’m sorry.” Hiccup heaved a great sigh as he cut himself off, looking abashed as he realized the poor girl before him had steadily grown more alarmed as he vented his frustration on her. “I’m going flying, don’t wait for me.”

Before any of the others could react, he jumped on Toothless’ back and took off, quickly disappearing into the thick grey clouds overhead. Jack, Merida and Rapunzel looked at each other, dumbfounded. It was the first time any of them had seen Hiccup lose his cool like that. They hadn’t even thought the boy had a temper; Merida was the one who exploded, not Hiccup.

“Well. That was… “ Merida seemed at a loss for words, staring up at the place where the boy and dragon had disappeared.

“… New?” supplied Jack.

“How long do you think he’s been keeping that bottled up?” wondered Rapunzel, looking a little distressed.

“He does fall down a lot,” said Jack, “and I’ve seen him in the forge, scowling over drawings and diagrams like they’ve personally wronged him.”

“It’s bound to get frustrating,” said Merida, “He’s used to being the one who fixes things, who makes things work. Finding a problem that he can’t solve probably gets to him.”

“What can we do though?” asked Rapunzel. “I want to help him, I hate seeing him like that!”

“Seriously Zells, how much help would we be?” questioned Jack. “We’re no good at inventing things, that’s Hiccup’s department. And if he can’t find a solution…”

“We could ask someone for help,” suggested Merida, “maybe Gobber might have an idea. He’s just as smart as Hiccup is.”

“That’s a great idea Merida!” said Rapunzel excitedly, pretty much jumping up and down and clapping her hands. “Come on! Let’s go find him!”

“Ugh now?” sighed Jack, launching into the air to float next to the trotting brunette. “What about sledding? Remember? We were on our way to go sledding?”

“Yes now! What better time to get stuff done?”

“I think sledding fell off the bottom of her priority list a long time ago Jack. You’re wasting your time.”

~

“Hiccup’s leg?” Gobber stood in his forge, his back to the three teenagers as he hammered away at a red-hot piece of Gronckle iron. “What are you askin’ me for, where’s Hiccup?”

“That’s the thing sir, he’s gone.” Rapunzel stood in the doorway flanked by Jack and Merida, wringing her hands as she explained the situation to the burly Viking. “He got upset over falling on some ice this morning and how he hasn’t been able to come up with a prosthetic that won’t slip and he took off on Toothless. We were thinking we would try and help him come up with a way to get his leg to grip on ice so he won’t fall anymore.”

“Has he talked to you about ideas or anything?” asked Jack, stepping forward hopefully. “We’re not really the inventive types, see.”

“No, he keeps most of his projects to himself these days. I think he believes I have nothing more to teach him. Which of course is completely false. Teenagers, hah!”

“So you do have an idea?!” exclaimed Merida.

“Ah, well. I never said that…”

“So you don’t know,” said Rapunzel, looking downcast.

“What I will tell you is this. Any good inventor looks around himself for inspiration. Look at how Hiccup made that tail for Toothless, you need to base an idea on something. Don’t expect ideas to spontaneously come out of thin air.”

“Right, thank you Gobber!” Rapunzel thanked the man and left him to his work. The other two repeated her thanks and left as well, heading to their favourite hangout spot on a secluded platform built into the cliff below the Dragon Training Academy and overlooking the sea.

Jack flopped down on his back on the wooden platform with his hands behind his head, a sheet of ice growing out from under him to cover the logs in his vicinity. “Jack, you’re icing again,” said Rapunzel as she installed herself next to him with, knees drawn up to her chin and staring absently at the glass-like surface that had stopped growing when the frost spirit became aware of it. Merida was seated nearby with her legs dangling over the edge, swinging them back and forth as she stared pensively at the steel-grey ocean reflecting the morose sky above. She wouldn’t be surprised if it started snowing soon, and she suspected it would do so even without any help from Jack.

“So…” began Rapunzel, “do you have any ideas? Either of you?”

“Nope, not a clue.”

“Me neither.”

The purple-clad girl sighed and stared into the distance, willing her mind to come up with an idea but knowing that was the wrong way to go about it. A heavy silence fell over the small group, each wrapped up in their own thoughts as they tried to think like Hiccup would, each trying to find a solution.

“Ok, brainstorm,” began Jack, suddenly getting up and pacing the platform, small whorls of frost swirling up every time he took a step, “we need to do something to the bottom of Hiccup’s prosthetic to prevent it sliding on ice. Like a certain configuration of the metal or adding some sort of material to the bottom. He said he’s tried fur and bark and crampons and snowshoes. Personally I’d think crampons would work, but maybe they weren’t sharp enough when he tried or something. What other material can we try?”

 “I dunno, leather? Fabric?” Merida was staring absently at a small group of Terrible Terrors approaching in their distinctive erratic flight pattern over the water; she clearly was not terribly interested in the intellectual stuff.

“I don’t think those materials offer any grip on ice Mer,” said Rapunzel, shifting to a more comfortable position before going on. “What makes our boots grip? The pattern of the sole right? How about duplicating that pattern in the metal of his prosthetic?”

Jack shook his head. “I don’t think that’d work. What makes your boots grip is not just the pattern but the surface area and the leather or whatever it’s made of. And anyway, he’s tried that already. We’re going in circles here.”

They lapsed into silence once more, Merida still staring at the approaching Terrors. After a few moments of contemplation, she spoke up, her voice pensive. “Guys, have you ever seen a dragon slip on ice?”

The question took them by surprise, Jack and Rapunzel frowning as they considered it. “I… don’t think I ever have actually,” said Jack, “what are you getting at?”

Just then, the little pack of dragons reached their platform and landed around them, chattering away at each other and demanding cuddles from the humans. One of them landed on the patch of ice Jack had created earlier, and all three teenagers stared at it. It never slid, remaining sure-footed as it sauntered toward the group, oblivious to the light bulb it had just set off in their heads.

“Dragons!” exclaimed Rapunzel, “of course!”

“They’ve lived up here in the north for ages and ages,” added Jack, a glint of realization in his eyes, “of course they would have had to evolve mechanisms for walking around in winter!”

“So a dragon’s foot has an anti-slippage mechanism built in!” finished Merida excitedly. “But don’t tell me we’ll have to cut off a dragon’s foot and tie it to Hiccup’s leg!”

“Oh don’t be silly Merida,” said Jack as he grabbed one of the little dragons and flipped it over in his lap to examine its feet, “It’s probably some specific pattern of the scales or something.”

Rapunzel got up and leaned over Jack’s shoulder, looking with him at the loudly protesting creature in his lap. “If we could gather enough loose dragon scales and duplicate the pattern onto the sole of Hiccup’s prosthetic, the problem would be solved!”

“Well what are we waiting for?!” Merida got up and dusted her skirt off, staring impatiently down at the two still seated on the ground. “Grab that dragon and let’s go!”

~

Gobber was enjoying a quiet drink and chat with Stoick in the Great Hall when the three teenagers burst through the door in a whirlwind of excitement, looking extremely pleased with themselves. Jack was trying to keep hold of a terribly uncooperative Terror while Merida carried his staff and Rapunzel held her skirt up the way a young girl would when picking berries without a bucket. “Oh dear,” muttered Gobber, draining his tankard before getting up, “here comes trouble.”

“What did you do to them?” questioned Stoick as he followed suit, pushing their bench back as he did so.

“I sort of helped them solve a problem.”

“Gobber! We did it!” Rapunzel was practically giddy as she bounded up to the older Viking, holding out her skirt so he could see what was inside. For a moment he thought he was looking at the night sky, a pool of darkness against the lavender of the girl’s dress. Then he realized it was a whole pile of little black flakes, absorbing any light that hit them. “Dragon scales! Well, Night Fury scales to be precise. We collected them from Hiccup’s room!”

“What is this about?” Stoick’s authoritative voice boomed in the Great Hall, putting an end to the brunette’s excited chatter as she shrank back to Jack’s side.

Merida stepped forward, not at all intimidated by the large Viking and putting on her best Regal-Elinor impression as she explained the situation. “Sir, Hiccup was frustrated by his inability to design a prosthetic he could count on for walking on ice, so as his friends we decided we would help him as best we could. And we think we found the solution: dragon scales. We’ve never seen a dragon slip on ice, so we figured their scales are configured in such a way as to prevent sliding on even the smoothest sheet of ice.”

“Interesting idea,” ceded Stoick, turning to Gobber, “it may just work eh?”

Gobber rolled his eyes and tapped Merida lightly upside the head, propelling her out of the great hall ahead of him. “Come along you two,” he called over his shoulder to Jack and Rapunzel,” we’ve got work to do.” They grinned at each other and hurried after him.

~

Hiccup touched down in the square late that night. The only reason he had actually come back was because it had started snowing and he didn’t like the idea of staying out by himself in one of Berk’s infamous blizzards, even though he did have Toothless with him. He was comfortable on his dragon; he didn’t have to worry about things like ice and prosthetics that won’t cooperate when he was soaring far above the clouds with nothing but the creature beneath him and the whistle of the wind for company.

As he quietly made his way home, avoiding all ice patches as much as possible, a light flickering inside the forge caught his attention. Curious, he approached the building, wondering why Gobber would still be working at this hour. Then he heard a clanking crash, quickly followed by a hissed “Ssshh, he’ll hear!” Now definitely intrigued, Hiccup reached out to push open the door, but it swung open before he could touch it and he found himself face to face with a positively beaming Rapunzel. Over her shoulder he could see Jack, Merida, Gobber and his father, all smiling widely at him.

“Guys, what’s this about?”

Rapunzel’s eyes sparkled as she pounced on his hand and dragged him inside, setting him in front of a workbench where one of Merida’s dainty handkerchiefs concealed what looked like a small square shape. “For you, from us,” said the purple-clad girl, stepping back to stand with Jack and Merida, “go on, open it!”

He didn’t understand what it was when he pulled off the kerchief. It was a very small square of stiff leather covered on one side with a black substance he recognized immediately as Night Fury scales, arranged in what was obviously a meticulously designed pattern. On the other side there were five clasps, meaning the thing was supposed to get hooked to something. But what? What was the meaning of this little square of leather?

“I don’t get it, what’s this supposed to be?”

“Sit there,” said Rapunzel with authority, pointing at a chair in the corner. Hiccup obeyed, looking around at his other two friends for help. Jack simply shrugged and mouthed _just do what she says_ over the girl’s shoulder while Merida snickered softly.

Rapunzel knelt on the floor in front of Hiccup, picking his up his metal leg and laying it in her lap. With a few deft movements she attached the peculiar square to the bottom of his prosthetic; testing each clasp to make sure it was well secured. “There,” she announced proudly as she stood back up, “now go try it out, go on!” She pointed outside as she said it, straight at a particularly treacherous patch of ice.

“You don’t mean…” Realization dawned slowly across Hiccup’s face, his features softening into a brilliant smile as he looked at each of his friends in turn. They smiled back and nodded toward that patch of ice, encouraging the young Viking out the door.

Stoick came forward and placed a hand on his son’s shoulder, walking him out the door into the blustery night. “I understand what it feels like to lose faith in a part of your own body, the frustration of not being able to do things that came so naturally before. Your friends have done a great thing, so no more sulking. Deal?” He chuckled and gave his son a pat on the back that propelled him several feet forward, then went to stand with Gobber and Toothless on the edge of the ice sheet.

His first step out onto the ice was tentative and hesitant; he kept expecting to wind up on his backside. His second step was a little more assured, his confidence building when he felt his prosthetic stay firmly in place. And after his third step, he straightened up and turned around to face his three favourite people in the world, all the gratitude and relief swirling through him reflected on his face. Jack had his arms thrown casually around the two girls’ shoulders, practically hanging off them and grinning from ear to ear. Merida wore a grin much like Jack’s, poking the boy in the ribs in an attempt to get him to let go of her, but when she met Hiccup’s eyes, her look turned to one of pride. Rapunzel had her hands up at her mouth, practically jumping up and down as her big green eyes swam with happy tears.

She ran forward, arms outstretched to give Hiccup one of her bowl-over hugs. “Wait, Zells! Stop!” Jack’s warning came too late; as soon as her boots hit the ice, Rapunzel’s feet slid out from under her and she fell forward, well on the way to smashing her face on the unforgiving surface. Hiccup moved without thinking, stepping forward to catch the girl before she hit the ground. He set her back on her feet and exhaled a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding, looking back and forth between Rapunzel’s slightly shocked face and his left leg planted solidly on the ice between them. “Did you see…?” She nodded, her smile returning as she threw her arms around his neck in a surprisingly powerful bear hug.

“There you go you big ninny,” she said as she let go, “next time you have a problem you can’t solve, talk to us about it!”

They rejoined the other two on the edge, all of them beaming back and forth at each other. Toothless came forward and nuzzled his rider’s hand as Hiccup got serious again, facing Jack, Rapunzel and Merida and trying to find the right words to express what he felt. “Guys I… you don’t know how much this means to me. Really, it’s… wow. Thank you. So much.”

“Don’t mention it,” said Merida, clapping Hiccup firmly on the shoulder, “it was our pleasure.”

“Aww man,” chimed in Jack, “you’re going to be a much harder target from now on! I’ll have to work on my technique if I want to keep dumping you in snowbanks.”

“Hah you wish Frost! I have a dragon remember?”

“No fair that’s cheating!”

“My father says there’s no such thing as cheating. If you have an advantage, use it! Except when he’s talking about the triplets, in which case he says do everything in your power to make sure they _don’t_ use their advantage.”

“Your dad sounds like he’d get along well with my dad.”

Rapunzel trailed behind as they headed up to the Great Hall, listening to their lighthearted banter. She was glad that things had returned to normal and quite proud of what they had managed to do today.

“Oi Blondie! You daydreaming again?” Jack stood on the top step, gesturing impatiently at her to hurry up.

“Hey, I’m not blond anymore. Haven’t been for a long time, got it?” She grinned as she danced up the stairs, slipping an arm around the frost spirit’s waist and entering the warm glow of the Great Hall to spend the night laughing with the three people she most loved in the world.


End file.
